Simon Russell Beale, Lucy Parham

Written to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy, Rêverie is the fourth biographical programme of composers’ words and music to be compiled and scripted by pianist Lucy Parham.

A crucial element of Debussy’s complex intellectual and emotional world was an entangled love life that brought illicit trysts in Jersey, a brush with a revolver and even a suicide attempt.

One of the most prolific and innovative composers of the early 20th century, Claude Debussy absorbed and transformed cultural influences from countries as far apart as Scotland (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair), Japan (Poissons d’Or) and the USA (Golliwogg’s Cake Walk).

The narrative of Rêverie sees Simon Russell Beale ('King Lear', 'The Deep Blue Sea') evoke Debussy’s personal and revealing journal, illuminated by a sequence of his most famous and atmospheric solo piano works, ranging from the ever-popular lyricism of ‘Clair de Lune’, ‘Reverie’ and ‘The Girl with the Flaxen Hair’, to such virtuosic showpieces as ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ the Etudes and ‘L’isle joyeuse’.